Communication system, information processing apparatus, information processing method, recording medium and program

ABSTRACT

A portable server has an antenna and radio communicating portion having a receivable distance of several m to several tens of m and an authentication antenna and authentication radio communicating portion having a receivable distance of several mm to several cm, which is extremely shorter than the receivable distance of the radio communicating portion. When an authentication button is operated by a user and when another apparatus is arranged within a range of the receivable distance of the authentication radio communicating portion, the authentication radio communicating portion performs authentication processing with the other apparatus through the authentication antenna and registers authentication data resulting from the authentication with a memory. The radio communicating portion connects to the authenticated other apparatus through an antenna based on the authentication data and performs data communication. The invention is applicable to a radio communication system including a mobile terminal.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a communication system, an informationprocessing apparatus, information processing method, a recording mediumand a program and in particular to a communication system, informationprocessing apparatus and method, recording medium and program, whichallow secure and easy mutual authentication.

2. Description of the Related Art

In recent years, with the advance of networking, more home networks arebeing established with an electronic apparatus, for example. In order toestablish such a home network, a compliant network interface must beimplemented in an electronic apparatus at home, which may increase costsor may complicate wiring of cables to be connected thereto. Therefore,the establishment of a home network by radio communication has beenproposed.

When a network is established by radio communication in this way, mutualauthentication of electronic equipment requesting to connect to thenetwork is difficult. Accordingly, JP-A-2003-178272 discloses anelectronic apparatus allowing the mutual authentication by usingelectromagnetic induction.

However, the electronic apparatus disclosed in JP-A-2003-178272 can beapplied to a large electronic apparatus at home but cannot be applied toa mobile electronic apparatus easily. In other words, when a mobileelectronic apparatus subject to mutual authentication as described aboveis carried out in a bag to a public place (such as a crowded train), themobile electronic apparatus may be authenticated by a malicious thirdparty without permission through the bag, which is a problem.Furthermore, when a mobile electronic apparatus has been authenticatedwithout permission, there is a danger that personal information and/ordata stored in the electronic apparatus may be intercepted, which isanother problem.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the invention was made in view of these issues, and it isan object of the invention to allow safe and easy mutual authentication.

According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided acommunication system for communicating data between a first informationprocessing apparatus and a second information processing apparatus,wherein the first information processing apparatus judges whetherauthentication processing is performed for communication between thefirst information processing apparatus and the second informationprocessing apparatus or not based on a user's operation, when it isdetermined that the authentication processing is performed and when thesecond information processing apparatus is arranged within a range of acommunicable distance of a first radio communicating portion in thefirst information processing apparatus, performs the authenticationprocessing by using the first radio communicating portion, registersauthentication data, which is obtained from the authenticationprocessing and is required for communication with the second informationprocessing apparatus, with the first information processing apparatus,and communicates data with the second information processing apparatusbased on the registered authentication data and by using a second radiocommunicating portion in the first information processing apparatus,which has a longer communicable distance than that of the first radiocommunicating portion, and the second information processing apparatusperforms authentication processing by using the third radiocommunicating portion when the first information processing apparatus isarranged within a range of a communicable distance of a third radiocommunicating portion in the second information processing apparatus,registers authentication data, which is obtained from the authenticationprocessing and is required for communication with the first informationprocessing apparatus, with the second information processing apparatus,and communicates data with the first information processing apparatusbased on the registered authentication data and by using a fourth radiocommunicating portion in the second information processing apparatus,which has a longer communicable distance than that of the third radiocommunicating portion.

The first information processing apparatus may include an operationinput unit to be operated by a user for performing authenticationprocessing and judge whether authentication processing is performed ornot based on operation information input through the operation inputunit.

The second information processing apparatus may also judge whetherauthentication processing is performed or not based on a user'soperation, and authentication processing may be performed by using athird radio communicating portion when it is judged that theauthentication processing is performed and when the first informationprocessing apparatus is arranged within a range of a communicabledistance of the third radio communicating portion.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided aninformation processing apparatus including an authentication judgingunit judging whether authentication processing is performed forcommunication with another information processing apparatus or not basedon a user's operation, a first radio communicating portion communicatingdata with the other information processing apparatus, a second radiocommunicating portion having a longer communicable distance than that ofthe first radio communicating portion and communicating data with theother information processing apparatus, an authentication performingunit performing authentication processing by using the first radiocommunicating portion when the authentication judging unit determinesperforming authentication processing and when the other informationprocessing apparatus is arranged within the range of the communicabledistance of the first radio communicating portion, a registering unitregistering authentication data, which is obtained as a result ofauthentication by the authentication performing unit and is required forcommunication with the other information processing apparatus, and adata communicating unit communicating data with the other informationprocessing apparatus based on the authentication data registered by theregistering unit and by using the second radio communicating portionhaving a longer communicable distance than that of the first radiocommunicating portion.

The information processing apparatus may further include an operationinput unit to be operated by a user for performing authenticationprocessing, wherein the authentication judging unit judges whetherauthentication processing by the authentication performing unit isperformed or not based on operation information input through theoperation input unit.

The information processing apparatus may further include an informationtransmitting unit transmitting call information by using the secondradio communicating portion, the call information being used forchecking an apparatus existing within the range of the communicabledistance of the second radio communicating portion, an informationreceiving unit receiving response information from the other informationprocessing apparatus by using the second radio communicating portion,the other information processing apparatus having received the callinformation through the information transmitting unit, and anauthenticated apparatus judging unit judging whether the otherinformation processing apparatus is an authenticated apparatus or notbased on the response information having been received by theinformation receiving unit and the authentication data having beenregistered by the registering unit, wherein the data communication unitcommunicates data with the other information processing apparatus byusing the second radio communicating portion when the authenticatedapparatus judging unit judges that the other information processingapparatus is an authenticated apparatus.

The information processing apparatus may further include an informationreceiving unit receiving call information from the other informationprocessing apparatus by using the second radio communicating portion,the call information being used for checking an apparatus existingwithin the range of the communicable distance of the other informationprocessing apparatus, an information transmitting unit transmittingresponse information to the call information, which has been received bythe information receiving unit, by using the second radio communicatingportion based on the authentication data registered by the registeringunit, and a connection permit judging unit judging whether a connectionpermit signal for response information transmitted by the informationtransmitting unit has been received from the other informationprocessing apparatus or not, wherein the data communication unitcommunicates data with the other information processing apparatus byusing the second radio communicating portion when the connection permitjudging unit judges that a connection permit signal has received fromthe other information processing apparatus.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided aninformation processing method for a communication system communicatingdata between an information processing apparatus and another informationprocessing apparatus, the method including an authentication judgingstep of judging whether authentication processing is performed forcommunication between the information processing apparatus and the otherinformation processing apparatus or not based on a user's operation, anauthentication performing step of performing authentication processingby using a first radio communicating portion in the informationprocessing apparatus when the authentication judging step determinesperforming authentication processing and when the other informationprocessing apparatus is arranged within the range of the communicabledistance of the first radio communicating portion, a registering step ofregistering authentication data, which is obtained as a result ofauthentication by the authentication performing step and is required forcommunication with the other information processing apparatus, and adata communicating step of communicating data with the other informationprocessing apparatus based on the authentication data registered by theregistering step and by using a second radio communicating portion beingin the information processing apparatus and having a longer communicabledistance than that of the first radio communicating portion.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided arecording medium recording a program causing a computer to performinformation processing in a communication system communicating databetween an information processing apparatus and another informationprocessing apparatus, the information processing including anauthentication judging step of judging whether authentication processingis performed for communication between the information processingapparatus and the other information processing apparatus or not based ona user's operation, an authentication performing step of performingauthentication processing by using a first radio communicating portionin the information processing apparatus when the authentication judgingstep determines performing authentication processing and when the otherinformation processing apparatus is arranged within the range of thecommunicable distance of the first radio communicating portion, aregistering step of registering authentication data, which is obtainedas a result of authentication by the authentication performing step andis required for communication with the other information processingapparatus, and a data communicating step of communicating data with theother information processing apparatus based on the authentication dataregistered by the registering step and by using a second radiocommunicating portion being in the information processing apparatus andhaving a longer communicable distance than that of the first radiocommunicating portion.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided aprogram causing a computer to perform information processing in acommunication system communicating data between an informationprocessing apparatus and another information processing apparatus, theinformation processing including an authentication judging step ofjudging whether authentication processing is performed for communicationbetween the information processing apparatus and the other informationprocessing apparatus or not based on a user's operation, anauthentication performing step of performing authentication processingby using a first radio communicating portion in the informationprocessing apparatus when the authentication judging step determinesperforming authentication processing and when the other informationprocessing apparatus is arranged within the range of the communicabledistance of the first radio communicating portion, a registering step ofregistering authentication data, which is obtained as a result ofauthentication by the authentication performing step and is required forcommunication with the other information processing apparatus, and adata communicating step of communicating data with the other informationprocessing apparatus based on the authentication data registered by theregistering step and by using a second radio communicating portion beingin the information processing apparatus and having a longer communicabledistance than that of the first radio communicating portion.

The term, “communication, here may refer to radio communication, cablecommunication or communication including radio communication and cablecommunication, that is, communication in which radio communication isperformed in one section and cable communication is performed in theother section. Furthermore, cable communication may be performed forcommunication from one apparatus to the other apparatus while radiocommunication may be performed for communication from the otherapparatus to the one apparatus.

According to the invention, mutual authentication can be implementedsecurely and easily. Furthermore, according to the invention, datacommunication can be performed securely and easily.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a construction example of a radiocommunication system of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective diagram showing an external construction exampleof a portable server in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration example ofthe portable server in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a detail configuration example of anauthentication radio communicating portion in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a detail configuration example of theradio communicating portion in FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a perspective diagram showing an external construction exampleof an image pickup apparatus in FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a perspective diagram showing the external constructionexample of the image pickup apparatus in FIG. 6 from the oppositedirection;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration example ofthe image pickup apparatus in FIG. 1;

FIG. 9 is a perspective diagram showing an external construction exampleof a portable viewer in FIG. 1;

FIG. 10 is a see-through perspective diagram showing a constructionexample of the portable viewer in FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration example ofthe portable viewer in FIG. 1;

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating authentication processing for theradio communication system in FIG. 1;

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a receivable range in authenticationof the radio communication system in FIG. 1;

FIG. 14 is another diagram illustrating a receivable range inauthentication of the radio communication system in FIG. 1;

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating connection and communicationprocessing for the radio communication system in FIG. 1;

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing another construction example of a radiocommunication system of the invention; and

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a configuration example of an informationprocessing apparatus of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Before describing an embodiment of the invention, correspondencesbetween the claimed aspects of the invention and embodiments will bedescribed first. Some embodiments may be described in the specificationbut may not be written here as ones corresponding to aspects of theinvention, but the fact does not mean that the embodiments do notcorrespond to aspects of the invention. Conversely, some embodiments maybe written as ones corresponding to aspects of the invention, but thefact does not mean that the embodiments do not correspond to otheraspects of the invention than the aspects of the invention.

Furthermore, the description below does not mean all aspects of theinvention described in the specification. In other words, thedescription below relates to aspects of the invention described in thespecification and does not deny the existence of inventions, which arenot claimed in this application, that is, the existence of theinventions to be divisionally applied and/or added by amendment.

According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided acommunication system for communicating data between a first informationprocessing apparatus (such as a portable server 1 in FIG. 1) and asecond information processing apparatus (such as an image pickupapparatus 2 in FIG. 1). In the communication system, the firstinformation processing apparatus (such as the portable server 1 inFIG. 1) judges whether authentication processing is performed forcommunication between the first information processing apparatus and thesecond information processing apparatus or not based on a user'soperation (such as a step S1 in FIG. 12), when it is determined that theauthentication processing is performed and when the second informationprocessing apparatus is arranged within a range (such as the range E1 inFIG. 14) of a communicable distance of a first radio communicatingportion in the first information processing apparatus, performs theauthentication processing by using the first radio communicating portion(such as an authentication antenna 12 and authentication radiocommunicating portion 33 in FIG. 3) (such as a step S4 in FIG. 12),registers authentication data, which is obtained from the authenticationprocessing and is required for communication with the second informationprocessing apparatus, with the first information processing apparatus(such as a step S5 in FIG. 12), and communicates data with the secondinformation processing apparatus based on the registered authenticationdata and by using a second radio communicating portion (such as anantenna 35 and radio communicating portion 34 in FIG. 3) in the firstinformation processing apparatus, which has a longer communicabledistance than that of the first radio communicating portion (such as astep S48 in FIG. 15), and the second information processing apparatus(such as the image pickup apparatus 2 in FIG. 1) performs authenticationprocessing by using the third radio communicating portion when the firstinformation processing apparatus is arranged within a range (such as therange E2 in FIG. 14) of a communicable distance of a third radiocommunicating portion (such as an authentication antenna 102 andauthentication radio communicating portion 144 in FIG. 8) in the secondinformation processing apparatus (such as a step S24 in FIG. 12),registers authentication data, which is obtained from the authenticationprocessing and is required for communication with the first informationprocessing apparatus, with the second information processing apparatus(such as a step S25 in FIG. 12), and communicates data with the firstinformation processing apparatus based on the registered authenticationdata and by using a fourth radio communicating portion (such as anantenna 146 and radio communicating portion 145 in FIG. 8) in the secondinformation processing apparatus, which has a longer communicabledistance than that of the third radio communicating portion (such as astep S66 in FIG. 15).

The first information processing apparatus may include an operationinput unit (such as an authentication button 41 in FIG. 3) to beoperated by a user for performing authentication processing and judgewhether authentication processing is performed or not based on operationinformation input through the operation input unit.

The second information processing apparatus may also judge whetherauthentication processing is performed or not based on a user'soperation (such as a step S21 in FIG. 12), and authentication processingmay be performed by using a third radio communicating portion when it isjudged that the authentication processing is performed and when thefirst information processing apparatus is arranged within a range (suchas the range E2 in FIG. 14) of a communicable distance of the thirdradio communicating portion.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided aninformation processing apparatus (such as the portable server 1 inFIG. 1) including an authentication judging unit (such as anauthentication control portion 61 in FIG. 4) judging whetherauthentication processing is performed for communication with anotherinformation processing apparatus (such as the image pickup apparatus 2in FIG. 1) or not based on a user's operation, an authenticationperforming unit (such as an authentication data communicating portion 63in FIG. 4) performing authentication processing by using a first radiocommunicating portion (such as the authentication antenna 12 in FIG. 3)when the authentication judging unit determines performingauthentication processing and when the other information processingapparatus is arranged within the range (such as the range E1 in FIG. 14)of the communicable distance of the first radio communicating portion, aregistering unit (such as an authentication data registering portion 64in FIG. 4) registering authentication data, which is obtained as aresult of authentication by the authentication performing unit and isrequired for communication with the other information processingapparatus, and a data communicating unit (such as a data communicatingportion 84 in FIG. 5) communicating data with the other informationprocessing apparatus based on the authentication data registered by theregistering unit and by using the second radio communicating portion(such as the antenna 35 in FIG. 3) having a longer communicable distancethan that of the first radio communicating portion.

The information processing apparatus may further include an operationinput unit (such as the authentication button 41 in FIG. 3) to beoperated by a user for performing authentication processing, wherein theauthentication judging unit judges whether authentication processing bythe authentication performing unit is performed or not based onoperation information input through the operation input unit.

The information processing apparatus may further include an informationtransmitting unit (such as an information transmitting portion 91 inFIG. 5 performing processing at a step S41 in FIG. 15) transmitting callinformation by using the second radio communicating portion (such as theantenna 35 in FIG. 3), the call information being used for checking anapparatus existing within the range of the communicable distance of thesecond radio communicating portion, an information receiving unit (suchas an information receiving portion 92 in FIG. 5 performing processingat a step S42 in FIG. 15) receiving response information from the otherinformation processing apparatus by using the second radio communicatingportion, the other information processing apparatus having received thecall information through the information transmitting unit, and anauthenticated apparatus judging unit (such as a communication controlportion 81 in FIG. 5 performing processing at a step S44 in FIG. 15)judging whether the other information processing apparatus is anauthenticated apparatus or not based on the response information havingbeen received by the information receiving unit and the authenticationdata having been registered by the registering unit, wherein the datacommunication unit communicates data with the other informationprocessing apparatus by using the second radio communicating portionwhen the authenticated apparatus judging unit judges that the otherinformation processing apparatus is an authenticated apparatus.

The information processing apparatus may further include an informationreceiving unit (such as the information receiving portion 92 in FIG. 5performing processing at a step S61 in FIG. 15) receiving callinformation from the other information processing apparatus by using thesecond radio communicating portion (such as the antenna 35 in FIG. 3),the call information being used for checking an apparatus existingwithin the range of the communicable distance of the other informationprocessing apparatus, an information transmitting unit (such as theinformation transmitting portion 91 in FIG. 5 performing processing at astep S62 in FIG. 15) transmitting response information to the callinformation, which has been received by the information receiving unit,by using the second radio communicating portion based on theauthentication data registered by the registering unit, and a connectionpermit judging unit (such as the communication control portion 81 inFIG. 5 performing processing at a step S63 in FIG. 15) judging whether aconnection permit signal for response information transmitted by theinformation transmitting unit has been received from the otherinformation processing apparatus or not, wherein the data communicationunit communicates data with the other information processing apparatusby using the second radio communicating portion when the connectionpermit judging unit judges that a connection permit signal has receivedfrom the other information processing apparatus.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided aninformation processing method including an authentication judging step(such as the step S1 in FIG. 12) of judging whether authenticationprocessing is performed for communication between the informationprocessing apparatus and the other information processing apparatus ornot based on a user's operation, an authentication performing step (suchas the step S4 in FIG. 12) of performing authentication processing byusing a first radio communicating portion (such as the authenticationantenna 12 and authentication radio communicating portion 33 in FIG. 3)in the information processing apparatus when the authentication judgingstep determines performing authentication processing and when the otherinformation processing apparatus (such as the image pickup apparatus 2in FIG. 1) is arranged within the range (such as the range E1 in FIG.14) of the communicable distance of the first radio communicatingportion, a registering step (such as the step S5 in FIG. 12) ofregistering authentication data, which is obtained as a result ofauthentication by the authentication performing step and is required forcommunication with the other information processing apparatus, and adata communicating step (such as the step S48 in FIG. 15) ofcommunicating data with the other information processing apparatus basedon the authentication data registered by the registering step and byusing a second radio communicating portion (such as the antenna 35 andradio communicating portion 34 in FIG. 3) being in the informationprocessing apparatus and having a longer communicable distance than thatof the first radio communicating portion.

Since a recording medium and program of the invention basically have thesame construction as that of the information processing method of theinvention, the repetitive description will be omitted herein.

Embodiments of the invention will be described below with reference todrawings.

FIG. 1 shows a construction example of a radio communication systemaccording to the invention. In FIG. 1, a portable server 1, an imagepickup apparatus 2 and a portable viewer 3 are portable apparatus andare connected to each other by radio.

The portable server 1 is an information processing apparatus, which is aportable and wireless home server centrally managing video data atuser's home, for example, and has a main storage function for the imagepickup apparatus 2 and portable viewer 3. In other words, the portableserver 1 stores video data from the image pickup apparatus 2 and/orloads the stored video data to the portable viewer 3. In reality, voicedata is processed similarly, the processing of voice data is omitted inthe example in FIG. 1.

The image pickup apparatus 2 includes a camcorder. The image pickupapparatus 2 shoots a subject in accordance with a manipulation by a userand encodes the shot and input video data (moving image data and/orstill image data) to MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) 2, for example,and sends the encoded video data to the portable server 1. In otherwords, the portable server 1 and the image pickup apparatus 2 arephysically separated shooting and storage units of one camcorder. Theshooting unit and storage unit are connected by radio. The portableviewer 3 is a portable display apparatus. The portable viewer 3reconstructs video data stored in the portable server 1 and displays thereconstructed images on a self-contained display.

In the radio communication system, the portable server 1, the imagepickup apparatus 2 and the portable viewer 3 are connected by radio. Inorder to deny accesses by third parties thereto from the point of viewof security control and copyright protection, each of the portableserver 1, the image pickup apparatus 2 and the portable viewer 3 has twocommunicating portions of a radio communicating portion and anauthentication radio communicating portion.

The radio communicating portion is used for general data communication(that is, non-authentication communication) between apparatus, and thereceivable distance (or communicable distance) is a distance from anantenna of the radio communicating portion, such as several meter (m) toseveral tens of meter (m). The transmission speed is a Mbps or higher.More specifically, the radio communicating portion includes IEEE 802.11bor 11g, which is the radio LAN (Local Area Network) standard or a UWB(Ultra Wide Band). The authentication radio communicating portion can beused for authentication processing to be performed for connecting toanother apparatus for the first time. The receivable distance (orcommunicable distance) is extremely shorter than the receivable distanceof the radio communicating portion and is a distance from an antenna ofthe authentication radio communicating portion from several mm toseveral cm. More specifically, the authentication radio communicatingportion can perform radio communication like the one used for anon-contact IC card.

Each of the portable server 1, the image pickup apparatus 2 and theportable viewer 3 has an authentication antenna and an authenticationbutton. In this case, the authentication antenna is to be used by theauthentication radio communicating portion, and the authenticationbutton is to be used by a user for commanding each of the apparatus toperform authentication processing. For example, when a user needs tocause the portable server 1 and the image pickup apparatus 2 toauthenticate each other, the user may press the authentication buttonsof the portable server 1 and image pickup apparatus 2, and the portableserver 1 and the image pickup apparatus 2 are brought close to eachother to the receivable distances of the respective authenticationantennas (authentication radio communicating portions). Thus, therespective authentication radio communicating portions implementauthentication processing in the portable server 1 and the image pickupapparatus 2, and mutual authentication can be implemented between theportable server 1 and the image pickup apparatus 2.

The above-described processing is implemented between the portableserver 1 and the portable viewer 3 and between the image pickupapparatus 2 and the portable viewer 3 so that mutual authentication canbe implemented among the apparatus in the radio communication system.Thus, data communication among the apparatus can be performed thereafterby the radio communicating portions in the portable server 1, the imagepickup apparatus 2 and the portable viewer 3.

FIG. 2 shows a construction example of an appearance of the portableserver 1 in FIG. 1. In FIG. 2, a cabinet 11 of the portable server 1 istransparently shown to show a part of the internal components in thecabinet 11.

An authentication antenna 12 is provided on the upper surface of thecabinet 11 of the portable server 1. The authentication antenna 12 canbe used for authenticating other apparatus. While, in the example inFIG. 2, the authentication antenna 12 is provided on the upper surfaceof the cabinet 11, the authentication antenna 12 only needs to beprovided near the surface of the cabinet 11 so as to be brought closerto or contact with an authentication antenna of the other apparatusduring authentication processing. Therefore, the authentication antenna12 may be provided on the back of the upper surface. An antenna 35 (notshown in FIG. 2 but shown in FIG. 3) is provided in the portable server1. The antenna 35 can be used for general communication duringnon-authentication processing.

In the cabinet 11, a hard disk drive 21 and a circuit portion 22 areprovided on the lower surface of the cabinet 11. The hard disk drive 21includes a high-speed and large capacity random access memory. Thecircuit portion 22 includes an authentication radio communicatingportion 33 and a radio communicating portion 34 (which will be describedlater with reference to FIG. 3). Furthermore, a battery 23 is providedabove the circuit portion 22. The battery 23 supplies power to thecomponents of the portable server 1.

FIG. 3 shows an internal configuration example of the portable server 1.In FIG. 3, the same reference numerals are given to the same componentsas those in FIG. 2, the repetitive description of which will be omittedherein. In the example in FIG. 3, the circuit portion 22 includes acontrol portion 31, a memory 32, an authentication radio communicatingportion 33 and a radio communicating portion 34.

The control portion 31 controls the components of the portable server 1based on a command signal from an operation input portion 37 to beoperated by a user or a control signal from another apparatus to bereceived through the radio communicating portion 34. The memory 32includes a non-volatile memory. The authentication radio communicatingportion 33 registers authentication data of another apparatus (such asthe image pickup apparatus 2) with the memory 32. The authenticationdata includes data required for authentication and data communicationafter authentication, such as product IDs (Identifiers) and encryptionkey data. The authentication radio communicating portion 33 implementsauthentication processing for another apparatus by radio communicablefrom several mm to several cm through the authentication antenna 12 andregisters authentication data required for data communication with theother apparatus, which has been obtained from authentication, with thememory 32. The radio communicating portion 34 communicates video datawith the other apparatus authenticated by the authentication radiocommunicating portion 33 by radio communicable from several m to severaltens of m through the antenna 35 based on the authentication dataregistered with the memory 32.

The control portion 31, memory 32, authentication radio communicatingportion 33 and radio communicating portion 34 are connected to eachother through a bus 36. The operation input portion 37, an outputportion 38, the hard disk drive (HDD) 21 and the battery 23 are alsoconnected to the bus 36.

The operation input portion 37 includes different kinds of button andswitch. The buttons also include an authentication button 41, whichprevents authentication in the portable server 1 unless a userintentionally operates the authentication button 41. While theauthentication button 41 may be turned on by one operation by a user,the authentication button 41 can be turned on by two operations by auser so as to improve the security for authentication. For example, theauthentication button 41 may include a lockable rotational switch suchas a record switch of a camcorder. In this case, the authenticationbutton 41 is not turned on unless the switch is unlocked by the firstoperation and is rotated by the second operation. Alternatively, theauthentication button 41 may include a cover switch, which is uncoveredby the first operation and is turned on by the second operation. Theoutput portion 38 includes an indicator or indicators for indicating anauthentication state or connection state of another apparatus.

FIG. 4 shows a detail configuration example of the authentication radiocommunicating portion 33. In the example in FIG. 4, the authenticationradio communicating portion 33 includes an authentication controlportion 61, an authentication radio communicating portion 62, anauthentication data communicating portion 63 and an authentication dataregistering portion 64.

The authentication control portion 61 controls the authentication radiocommunicating portion 62 and the authentication data communicatingportion 63 based on an operation by a user on the authentication button41 to implement authentication processing. In other words, theauthentication control portion 61 controls the authentication radiocommunicating portion 62 based on an operation by a user on theauthentication button 41 to implement exchanges of radio communicablefrom several mm to several cm through the authentication antenna 12. Theauthentication control portion 61 further monitors the authenticationradio communicating portion 62. Thus, when the authentication controlportion 61 receives radio from another apparatus through theauthentication radio communicating portion 62, the authenticationcontrol portion 61 controls the authentication data communicatingportion 63 to implement authentication processing with the otherapparatus from which radio has been received. After the authenticationprocessing is implemented, the authentication control portion 61controls the authentication data registering portion 64 to registerauthentication data resulting from the authentication processing withthe memory 32 or to cause the indicator of the output portion 38 toindicate an authentication state or connection state, in the portableserver 1, of the other apparatus.

The authentication radio communicating portion 62 sends authenticationradio for authentication communicable from several mm to several cm toanother apparatus through the authentication antenna 12 and/or receivesresponse radio corresponding to authentication radio from anotherapparatus through the authentication antenna 12. The authentication datacommunicating portion 63 exchanges authentication data (such as aproduct ID (or Identifier) and an encryption key) required forauthentication or data communication after authentication with anotherapparatus by radio communicable from several mm to several cm throughthe authentication antenna 12 and outputs the received authenticationdata to the authentication control portion 61. The authentication dataregistering portion 64 registers authentication data from theauthentication control portion 61 with the memory 32.

FIG. 5 shows a detail configuration example of the radio communicatingportion 34. In the example in FIG. 5, the radio communicating portion 34includes a communication control portion 81, a connection processingportion 82, an authentication data loading portion 83 and a datacommunicating portion 84.

The communication control portion 81 controls the connection processingportion 82 at predetermined intervals to send a call radio communicablefrom several m to several tens of m for checking the existence ofanother apparatus. When the connection processing portion 82 receivesresponse radio from the other apparatus to the call radio, thecommunication control portion 81 controls the connection processingportion 82 and the authentication data loading portion 83 to loadauthentication data and implement processing of connecting to the otherapparatus having sent the call radio by radio communicable from severalm to several tens of m based on the loaded authentication data. Afterthe connection processing is implemented, the communication controlportion 81 causes the indicator of the output portion 38 to indicate astate of connection with another apparatus and/or controls the datacommunicating portion 84 to implement processing of data communicationwith the other apparatus having undergone the connection processing byradio communicable from several m to several tens of m.

The connection processing portion 82 includes an informationtransmitting portion 91 and an information receiving portion 92. Theinformation transmitting portion 91 sends call radio communicable fromseveral m to several tens m or response radio to call radio from anotherapparatus through the antenna 35. The information transmitting portion91 transmits a connection permit signal or a check signal to aconnection permit signal from another apparatus by radio communicablefrom several m to several tens of m through the antenna 35. Theinformation receiving portion 92 receives call radio from anotherapparatus or response radio to call radio by radio communicable fromseveral m to several tens of m through the antenna 35. The informationreceiving portion 92 further receives a check signal to a connectionpermit signal or a connection permit signal by radio communicable fromseveral m to several tens of m through the antenna 35.

The authentication data loading portion 83 loads authentication datacorresponding to a response signal received from the memory 32 andsupplies the loaded authentication data to the communication controlportion 81. The data communicating portion 84 performs datacommunication with another connection-permitted apparatus by radiocommunicable from several m to several tens of m under the control ofthe communication control portion 81.

FIG. 6 shows a construction example of an appearance of the image pickupapparatus 2 in FIG. 1. In the example in FIG. 6, the image pickupapparatus 2 includes a cabinet 101, an authentication antenna 102, acamera portion 103 and a display portion 104.

The authentication antenna 102 has the same construction as that of theauthentication antenna 12 in FIG. 2 and is provided on a side of thecabinet 101. While, in the example in FIG. 6, the authentication antenna102 is provided on the external side of the cabinet 101, theauthentication antenna 102 only needs to be provided near a surface ofthe cabinet 101 so as to be brought close to or contact with theauthentication antenna 12 of the portable server 1, for example, forauthentication. The authentication antenna 102 may be provided on aninternal side of the cabinet 101.

The camera portion 103 includes a lens and a CCD (Charge-Coupled Device)image pickup device for imaging a subject and is provided in the upperpart of the cabinet 101 on this side in FIG. 6. The display portion 104is closeably connected to the cabinet 101 through a hinge, not shown,such that the display portion 104 can be opened toward the opposite sideof the authentication antenna 102 of the cabinet 101 in shooting and canbe folded and closed along the cabinet 101 when stored.

FIG. 7 shows a construction example of the appearance of the imagepickup apparatus 2 in FIG. 6 from the opposite direction. In FIG. 7, thedashed lines indicate a part of the internal components of the cabinet101 of the image pickup apparatus 2.

In the example in FIG. 7, the display portion 104 includes a display 111for displaying images being shot, an authentication state and/orconnection state with another apparatus or status information (that is,record status, standby status or play status) of the portable server 1.The display portion 104 further includes control buttons 112 at thebottom of the display 111. The control buttons 112 are to be used by auser for commanding predetermined processing to be performed by theimage pickup apparatus 2.

A circuit portion 121 is provided on the surface near the camera portion103 in the cabinet 101. The circuit portion 121 includes a controlportion 141, an authentication radio communicating portion 144 and aradio communicating portion 145 (which will be described later withreference to FIG. 8). A battery 122 is provided at the internal centerof the cabinet 101. The battery 122 supplies power to components of theimage pickup apparatus 2.

FIG. 8 shows an internal configuration example of the image pickupapparatus 2. In FIG. 8, the same reference numerals are given to thesame components as those of FIG. 7, the repetitive description of whichwill be omitted herein. In the example in FIG. 8, the circuit portion121 includes a control portion 141, a memory 142, an encoding portion143, an authentication radio communicating portion 144 and a radiocommunicating portion 145.

The control portion 141 controls components of the image pickupapparatus 2 based on a command signal from the operation input portion148 in response to an operation by a user. The control portion 141controls components of the portable server 1 through the radiocommunication portion 145 and the antenna 146. The memory 142 includes anon-volatile memory. The authentication radio communicating portion 144registers authentication data required for data communication with otherapparatus (such as the portable server 1) with the memory 142. Theencoding portion 143 performs encoding processing such as MPEG2 on videodata input from the camera portion 103 and outputs the encoded videodata to the hard disk drive 21 of the portable server 1 through theradio communicating portion 145 and the antenna 146.

The authentication radio communicating portion 144 performsauthentication processing for other apparatus (such as the portableserver 1) through the authentication antenna 102 and registers theauthentication data resulting from the authentication and required fordata communication with other apparatus with the memory 142. The radiocommunicating portion 145 implements processing of communicating videodata and/or control data with another apparatus authenticated by theauthentication radio communicating portion 144 through the antenna 146based on authentication data registered with the memory 142. Theauthentication radio communicating portion 144 and the radiocommunicating portion 145 have basically the same constructions as thatof the authentication radio communicating portion 33, which wasdescribed above with reference to FIG. 4, and as that of the radiocommunicating portion 34, which was described with reference to FIG. 5.Therefore, in the description below, the constructions of theauthentication radio communicating portion 33 in FIG. 4 and radiocommunicating portion 34 in FIG. 5 can be applied as the constructionsof the authentication radio communicating portion 144 and radiocommunicating portion 145 as required.

The control portion 141, the memory 142, the encoding portion 143, theauthentication radio communicating portion 144 and the radiocommunicating portion 145 are connected to each other through a bus 147.The bus 147 is also connected to the camera portion 103, the operationinput portion 148, the output portion 149 and the battery 122.

The camera portion 103 images a subject and outputs imaged video data tothe encoding portion 143. The operation input portion 148 includesdifferent kinds of button and switch. The different kinds of buttonincludes a control button 112, and an authentication button 161. Thecontrol button 112 is to be used by a user for commanding predeterminedprocessing by the image pickup apparatus 2. The authentication button161 prevents authentication in the image pickup apparatus 2 unless auser intentionally operates the authentication button 161. Theauthentication button 161 has basically the same construction as that ofthe authentication button 41 in FIG. 3, the repetitive detaildescription of which will be omitted herein. The output portion 149includes a display 111 and a speaker. The display 111 may include acathode ray tube (CRT) or a liquid crystal display (LCD).

FIG. 9 shows a construction example of an appearance of the portableviewer 3 in FIG. 1. In the example in FIG. 9, the portable viewer 3includes a cabinet 201, a display 202, control buttons 203 and anauthentication antenna 204.

The display 202 is provided on the front surface of the cabinet 201. Thedisplay 202 displays a restructured image and an authentication statusand/or connection status with another apparatus or status information ofthe portable viewer 3 and/or portable server 1. The control buttons 203are provided on the side of the display 202. The control buttons 203 areto be used by a user for commanding predetermined processing by theportable viewer 3.

The authentication antenna 204 has the same construction as that of theauthentication antenna 12 in FIG. 2. As indicated by the dashed lines,the authentication antenna 204 is provided on the back (the othersurface without the display 202) of the cabinet 201. While, in theexample in FIG. 9, the authentication antenna 204 is provided on theexternal side of the back of the cabinet 201, the authentication antenna204 only needs to be provided near a surface of the cabinet 201 so as tobe brought close to or contact with an authentication antenna of anotherapparatus during authentication processing. Therefore, theauthentication antenna 204 may be provided on the internal side of theback of the cabinet 201.

FIG. 10 is a part of an internal construction example through theportable viewer 3 transparently shown in FIG. 9.

In the example in FIG. 10, a circuit portion 211 is provided on theinternal back (that is, the surface having the authentication antenna204) of the cabinet 201. The circuit portion 211 includes a controlportion 231, an authentication radio communicating portion 234 and aradio communicating portion 235 (which will be described later withreference to FIG. 11). A battery 212 is provided on the right side inFIG. 10. The battery 212 supplies power to components of the portableviewer 3.

FIG. 11 shows an internal configuration example of the portable viewer3. In FIG. 11, the same reference numerals are given to the samecomponents as those in FIGS. 9 and 10, the repetitive description ofwhich will be omitted herein. In the example in FIG. 11, the circuitportion 211 includes a control portion 231, a memory 232, a decodingportion 233, an authentication radio communicating portion 234 and aradio communicating portion 235.

The control portion 231 controls components of the portable viewer 3based on command signals from the operation input portion 238 inresponse to operations by a user thereon. The control portion 231controls components of the portable server 1 through the radiocommunicating portion 235 and the antenna 236 based on command signalsfrom the operation input portion 238. For example, the control portion231 controls components of the portable server 1 for adjustable-speedreconstruction in order to reconstruct video data stored in the portableserver 1 at adjustable speeds. The memory 232 includes a non-volatilememory. The authentication radio communicating portion 234 registersauthentication data required for data communication with other apparatus(such as the portable server 1) with the memory 232. The decodingportion 233 decodes video data loaded from the portable server 1 throughthe radio communicating portion 235 and the antenna 236 and causes thedecoded video data to be displayed on the display 202.

The authentication radio communicating portion 234 performsauthentication processing for another apparatus through theauthentication antenna 204 and registers the authentication dataresulting from the authentication processing and required for datacommunication with the other apparatus with the memory 232. The radiocommunicating portion 235 performs communication processing of videodata or control data with the other apparatus authenticated by theauthentication radio communicating portion 234 through the antenna 236based on authentication data registered with the memory 232. Theauthentication radio communicating portion 234 and the radiocommunicating portion 235 have basically the same construction as thatof the authentication radio communicating portion 33, which has beendescribed with reference to FIG. 4, and the radio communicating portion34, which has been described with reference to FIG. 5. Therefore, in thedescription below, the construction of the authentication radiocommunicating portion 33 in FIG. 4 and the radio communicating portion34 in FIG. 5 is applied as the construction of the authentication radiocommunicating portion 234 and radio communicating portion 235 asrequired.

In the example in FIG. 11, the control portion 231, memory 232, decodingportion 233, authentication radio communicating portion 234 and radiocommunicating portion 235 are connected to each other through a bus 237.The bus 237 is also connected to an operation input portion 238, anoutput portion 239 and a battery 212.

The operation input portion 238 includes different kinds of button andswitch. The different kinds of button include a control button 203 andan authentication button 241. The control button 203 is to be used by auser for commanding predetermined processing on the portable viewer 3.The authentication button 241 is to be used by a user for preventingauthentication unless a user intentionally operates the authenticationbutton 241. The authentication button 241 has basically the sameconstruction as that of the authentication button 41 in FIG. 3, therepetitive description of which will be omitted herein. The outputportion 239 includes a display 202 having a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) or aLiquid Crystal Display (LCD) and a speaker.

Next, the authentication processing of a radio communication system willbe described with reference to a flowchart in FIG. 12. The example inFIG. 12 illustrates the authentication processing relating to theportable server 1 and the image pickup apparatus 2.

In order to cause the portable server 1 to authenticate the image pickupapparatus 2, a user turns on the authentication button 41 of theportable server 1 and turns on the authentication button 161 of theimage pickup apparatus 2. For example, when the authentication button 41of the portable server 1 includes a cover switch, a user uncovers theswitch by the first operation and turns the switch on by the secondoperation to turn on the authentication button 41. For example, when theauthentication button 161 of the image pickup apparatus 2 includes alockable rotational switch, a user may unlock the switch by the firstoperation and rotate the switch by the second operation to turn on theauthentication button 161. Then, the user may bring the image pickupapparatus 2 and the portable server 1 close up to a distance (fromseveral mm to several cm), which can receive radio sent by theauthentication radio communicating portion 33 and the authenticationradio communicating portion 144.

The authentication radio receivable range of the portable server 1 andimage pickup apparatus 2 will be described with reference to FIGS. 13and 14. In the example in FIGS. 13 and 14, the authentication antenna 12is provided near an internal surface of the cabinet 11 of the portableserver 1. In the example, the authentication antenna 102 is providednear an internal surface of the cabinet 101 of the image pickupapparatus 2.

In the example in FIG. 13, a user is holding, by the left hand L, thecabinet 11 of the portable server 1 with the authentication antenna 12toward the right hand R (image pickup apparatus 2) side. Furthermore,the user is holding, by the right hand R, the cabinet 101 and cameraportion 103 of the image pickup apparatus 2 with the authenticationantenna 102 toward the left hand L (portable server 1) side. The displayportion 104 of the image pickup apparatus 2 is folded and accommodatedtoward the cabinet 101.

In the example in FIG. 13, a distance d1 between the portable server 1and the image pickup apparatus 2 is longer than a distance of several mmto several cm. The authentication antenna 12 of the portable server 1 isnot included in a range E2 of a distance (of several mm to several cm)in which radio from the authentication antenna 12 of the portable server1 can be received by the image pickup apparatus 2. Furthermore, theauthentication antenna 102 of the image pickup apparatus 2 is notincluded in a range E1 of a distance (of several mm to several cm) inwhich radio from the authentication antenna 102 of the image pickupapparatus 2 is received by the portable server 1. Therefore,authentication processing does not start since the authentication radiocommunicating portion 33 of the portable server 1 and the authenticationradio communicating portion 144 of the image pickup apparatus 2 do notreceive radio from each other.

Thus, as shown in FIG. 14, the user may bring the portable server 1 andthe image pickup apparatus 2 closely up to a distance d2 in which theauthentication antenna 12 of the portable server 1 is close to theauthentication antenna 102 of the image pickup apparatus 2.

In the example in FIG. 14, the distance d2 between the portable server 1and the image pickup apparatus 2 is shorter than a distance of theseveral mm to several cm. The authentication antenna 12 of the portableserver 1 is included in the range E2 of a distance (of several mm toseveral cm) in which radio from the authentication antenna 12 of theportable server 1 can be received by the image pickup apparatus 2.Furthermore, the authentication antenna 102 of the image pickupapparatus 2 is included in the range E1 of a distance (of several mm toseveral cm) in which radio from the authentication antenna 102 of theimage pickup apparatus 2 is received by the portable server 1. In otherwords, as indicated by the thick arrow, the authentication antenna 12can receive radio from the authentication antenna 102, and theauthentication antenna 102 can also receive radio from theauthentication antenna 12. Therefore, subsequent processing is performedin the authentication radio communicating portion 33 of the portableserver 1 and the authentication radio communicating portion 144 of theimage pickup apparatus 2.

The ranges E1 and E2 may be a range of a same distance or may be rangesof different distances from several mm to several cm. However, in orderto allow the bi-directional communication, the ranges E1 and E2 arepreferably ranges of substantially the same distance.

At a step S1, the authentication control portion 61 of the portableserver 1 waits until the authentication button 41 is turned on. When theauthentication button 41 is turned on by a user's operation and it isdetermined that the authentication button 41 has been turned on, theprocessing goes to a step S2. At the step S2, the authentication radiocommunicating portion 62 is controlled to send authentication radiocommunicable from several mm to several cm through the authenticationantenna 12. Then, the processing goes to a step S3.

On the other hand, at a step S21, the authentication control portion 61of the image pickup apparatus 2 also waits until the authenticationbutton 161 is turned on. When the authentication button 161 is turned onby a user's operation and it is determined that the authenticationbutton 161 has been turned on, the processing goes to a step S22. At thestep S22, the authentication control portion 61 monitors theauthentication radio communicating portion 62 and waits until theauthentication radio communicating portion 62 receives authenticationradio from the portable server 1.

As described above with reference to FIG. 14, since the authenticationantenna 102 of the image pickup apparatus 2 exists in the range of thedistance d2, which can receive radio from the authentication antenna 12of the portable server 1, the authentication radio communicating portion62 of the image pickup apparatus 2 receives authentication radio sent bythe step S2 from the portable server 1 through the authenticationantenna 102. At the step S22, in response to the reception of theauthentication radio, the authentication control portion 61 of the imagepickup apparatus 2 determines that the authentication radiocommunicating portion 62 has received the authentication radio from theportable server 1. Then, the processing goes to a step S23 where theauthentication radio communicating portion 62 is controlled to sendresponse radio to the received authentication radio to the portableserver 1 through the authentication antenna 102. Then, the processinggoes to a step S24.

At the step S3, the authentication control portion 61 of the portableserver 1 monitors the authentication radio communicating portion 62 andwaits until the authentication radio communicating portion 62 receivesresponse radio to the authentication radio. As described above withreference to FIG. 14, since the authentication antenna 12 of theportable server 1 exists in the range of the distance d2, which canreceive radio from the authentication antenna 102 of the image pickupapparatus 2, the authentication radio communicating portion 62 of theportable server 1 receives response radio sent by the step S23 from theimage pickup apparatus 2 through the authentication antenna 12. At thestep S3, in response to the reception of the response radio, theauthentication control portion 61 of the portable server 1 determinesthat the authentication radio communicating portion 62 has received theresponse radio from the image pickup apparatus 2. Then, the processinggoes to a step S4 where the authentication data communicating portion 63is controlled to perform communication of authentication data throughthe authentication antenna 12, that is, to perform authenticationprocessing for the image pickup apparatus 2. Then, the processing goesto a step S5.

When the authentication radio communicating portion 62 receivesauthentication data sent by the step S4 from the portable server 1, theauthentication control portion 61 of the image pickup apparatus 2controls the authentication data communicating portion 63 at the stepS24 to cause the portable server 1 to perform communication ofauthentication data through the authentication antenna 102, that is, toperform authentication processing for the portable server 1corresponding to the processing at the step S4 by the portable server 1.Then, the processing goes to a step S25.

The authentication processing will be specifically described below. Inreality, the authentication control portion 61 of the portable server 1controls the authentication data communicating portion 63 to request aproduct ID of the image pickup apparatus 2 through the authenticationantenna 12. In response to the request, the authentication controlportion 61 of the image pickup apparatus 2 controls the authenticationdata communicating portion 63 to send the product ID through theauthentication antenna 102. The authentication control portion 61 of theportable server 1 creates a random number X, creates a first key fromthe random X and the product ID of the image pickup apparatus 2 havingreceived through the authentication antenna 12 from the authenticationdata communicating portion 63 and creates a second key from the firstkey and the product ID of the image pickup apparatus 2. Furthermore, theauthentication control portion 61 of the portable server 1 controls theauthentication data communicating portion 63 to send the created randomnumber X to the image pickup apparatus 2 through the authenticationantenna 12. The authentication control portion 61 of the image pickupapparatus 2 creates a first key from the random X having been receivedfrom the authentication data communicating portion 63 through theauthentication antenna 102 and the product ID of the image pickupapparatus 2 and further creates a second key from the first key and theproduct ID of the image pickup apparatus 2. Then, the authenticationcontrol portion 61 of the image pickup apparatus 2 controls theauthentication data communicating portion 63 to send the first key andthe second key as authentication code to the portable server 1 throughthe authentication antenna 102. In response to the transmission, theauthentication control portion 61 of the portable server 1 compares theauthentication code having been received from the authentication datacommunicating portion 63 through the authentication antenna 12 and thecreated second key. If the authentication code and the second key agree,the authentication control portion 61 of the portable server 1 controlsthe authentication data communicating portion 63 to send encryption keydata to the image pickup apparatus 2 through the authentication antenna12.

The authentication processing as described above is performed at thesteps S4 and S24 so that the portable server 1 and the image pickupapparatus 2 are authenticated by each other. Thus, the portable server 1and the image pickup apparatus 2 can obtain the product ID of the imagepickup apparatus 2 and encryption key data as authentication data, whichis information required for connection and communication between theportable server 1 and the image pickup apparatus 2 subsequent to theauthentication.

Then, at the step S5, the authentication control portion 61 of theportable server 1 controls the authentication data registering portion64 to register authentication data obtained by the reception or creationstep with the memory 32. Then, at a step S6, an indicator in the outputportion 38 is caused to display the authentication state indicating thatthe image pickup 2 has been authenticated in the portable server 1, andthe authentication processing ends then.

On the other hand, at the step S25, the authentication control portion61 of the image pickup apparatus 2 controls the authentication dataregistering portion 64 to register authentication data obtained by thereception or creation step with the memory 142. At a step S26, thedisplay 111 is caused to display the authentication status indicatingthat the portable server 1 has been authenticated in the image pickupapparatus 2, and the authentication processing ends then.

Since the portable server 1 and the image pickup apparatus 2 areauthenticated by each other as described above, a user having purchaseda new apparatus only needs to turn on the authentication button andbring the apparatus and another apparatus to be authenticated closely sothat the two apparatus can easily authenticate each other. Thus, theapparatus can be connected to an existing apparatus by radio.Furthermore, since authentication data is registered which isinformation required for connection and communication between themutually authenticated portable server 1 and image pickup apparatus 2,the above-described authentication processing by bringing apparatusclosely to an authentication-radio-receivable distance is not required,after the apparatus have been mutually authenticated once, forconnection after authentication, which will be described later withreference to FIG. 15.

Furthermore, no authentication processing can be performed unless theauthentication button 41 and the authentication button 161 are turnedon. Thus, for example, in a crowded place such as a crowded train, theauthentication can be suppressed for the portable server 1 in a bag by athird party through the bag. Furthermore, since authentication radio isnot sent unless the authentication button or buttons are pressed, thepower consumption can be reduced.

While, in the description above, the authentication buttons are turnedon in two apparatus to be mutually authenticated to performauthentication processing, the authentication button may be onlyprovided in one of the two apparatus (such as the portable server 1having a data storage function).

Furthermore, the authentication button may include a soft switch alongwith a liquid crystal display and a touch panel. Also in this case, auser may operate the touch panel twice or more to display theauthentication switch on the display (The number of times of operationsmust be kept below the number of times that do not place a load on auser). Thus, the same advantages can be attempted as those of the casewhere the authentication buttons are provided in cabinets. Furthermore,when a touch panel is used therefor, the waste in size and costs due tothe provision of a special switch only for authentication can besuppressed.

Furthermore, while, in the description above, the portable server 1sends authentication radio, the image pickup apparatus 2 may sendauthentication radio. Both of the portable server 1 and the image pickupapparatus 2 may send authentication radio separately, and one havingreceived the sent authentication radio earlier may send response radiocorresponding to the authentication radio.

While the repetitive description of the processing will be omittedherein, the same processing is performed between the portable server 1and the portable viewer 3 or between the image pickup apparatus 2 andthe portable viewer 3.

Next, connection and communication processing for radio communicationsystems having undergone the authentication processing as describedabove, that is, mutually authenticated radio communication systems willbe described with reference to a flowchart in FIG. 15. The example inFIG. 15 illustrates a case where the image pickup apparatus 2 and theportable server 1 mutually authenticated by the authenticationprocessing in FIG. 12 undergo the connection and communicationprocessing.

The communication control portion 81 of the portable server 1 measures atime by using a clock contained therein and, at a step S41, controls theinformation transmitting portion 91 to transmit call radio atpredetermined intervals through the antenna 35. Then, the processinggoes to a step S42. The call radio is radio for checking whether or nota mutually authenticated apparatus exists within a range of several m toseveral tens of m, which is a distance in which the radio communicatingportion 34 of the portable server 1 can receive the call radio. Notably,a direct operation (through a button, a touch panel or the like) by auser may trigger the transmission of call radio.

At a step S61, the communication control portion 81 of the image pickupapparatus 2 monitors the information receiving portion 92, and theinformation receiving portion 92 waits until call radio is receivedthrough the antenna 146. Since the call radio sent from the portableserver 1 by the step S41 is received by the information receivingportion 92 of the image pickup apparatus 2, the communication controlportion 81 determines that the information receiving portion 92 hasreceived call radio through the antenna 146. At a step S62, theinformation transmitting portion 91 is controlled to send response radioto the received call radio through the antenna 146, and the processinggoes to a step S63. More specifically, at the step S62, thecommunication control portion 81 of the image pickup apparatus 2controls the authentication data loading portion 83 to loadauthentication data to be used for communication with the portableserver 1 having sent the call radio from the memory 142 and encrypt theresponse radio to the call radio by using the loaded authentication data(encryption key data). Then, the communication control portion 81controls the information transmitting portion 91 to transmit theencrypted response radio through the antenna 146.

At the step S42, the communication control portion 81 of the portableserver 1 monitors the information receiving portion 92 and judgeswhether the information receiving portion 92 has received response radiocorresponding to the call radio through the antenna 35 or not. If thecommunication control portion 81 determines that the informationreceiving portion 92 has not received the response radio through theantenna 35, the processing returns to the step S41. Then, the step S41and subsequent steps are performed again.

When the response radio sent by the step S62 from the image pickupapparatus 2 is received by the information receiving portion 92 of theportable server 1, the communication control portion 81 of the portableserver 1 determines that the information receiving portion 92 hasreceived the response radio through the antenna 35 at the step S42 inresponse to the reception. At the step S43, the communication controlportion 81 controls the authentication data loading portion 83 to loadauthentication data to be used for communication with the image pickupapparatus 2 having sent the response radio from the memory 32 anddecodes the received response radio by using the loaded authenticationdata (encryption key data). Then, at a step S44, the communicationcontrol portion 81 judges whether the response radio having been decodedby using the registered authentication data can be loaded or not, thatis, whether the apparatus having sent the response radio is an apparatusregistered with the memory 32 (that is, authenticated apparatus) or not.

For example, when a failure occurs during the reception of the responseradio or when radio has received from an unauthenticated apparatus, thatis, when the response radio having been decoded by using the registeredauthentication data cannot be loaded, the apparatus having sent theresponse radio is determined as an apparatus not registered with thememory 32 at the step S44. Then, the communication control portion 81 ofthe portable server 1 returns to the step S41, and the step S41 andsubsequent processing are repeated. In other words, at the step S41, thecommunication control portion 81 of the portable server 1 measures atime by using a clock contained therein and controls the informationtransmitting portion 91 to transmit call radio at predeterminedintervals through the antenna 12. Then, the subsequent steps areperformed again. Thus, radio from unauthenticated apparatus are notallowed to connect by the portable server 1.

Since radio communication may be performed in a public space in manycases, the connection and communication processing after authenticationpreferably is not intercepted by a third party. The processing at thestep S42 and subsequent steps relating to the portable server 1 andcommunication processing at the step S62 and subsequent steps relatingto the image pickup apparatus 2 are performed by using an encryptionmethod such as IEEE 802.1 X/EAP. Therefore, the encryption and decodingas described above are performed at the steps S44 and S62 in thetransmission and reception at the steps S45 and subsequent steps and atthe step S63 and subsequent steps, the description of which will beomitted.

On the other hand, at a step S44, if the response radio decoded withregistered authentication data can be loaded, the communication controlportion 81 of the portable server 1 determines that an apparatus havingsent response radio is an apparatus registered with the memory 32. At astep S45, the communication control portion 81 controls the informationtransmitting portion 91 to send a connection permit signal through theantenna 35. Then, the processing goes to a step S46.

On the other hand, at a step S63, the communication control portion 81of the image pickup apparatus 2 monitors the information receivingportion 92 and judges whether a connection permit signal has beenreceived thereby through the antenna 146. If the communication controlportion 81 determines that the information receiving portion 92 hasreceived a connection permit signal through the antenna 146, thecommunication control portion 81 controls the information transmittingportion 91 to send a check signal corresponding to the connection permitsignal at the step S64. Then, the processing goes to a step S65.

If, at a step S63, the communication control portion 81 of the imagepickup apparatus 2 determines that the information receiving portion 92has not received a connection permit signal through the antenna 146, theprocessing returns to the step S61. Then, the step S61 and subsequentsteps are performed again.

At the step S65, the communication control portion 81 of the imagepickup apparatus 2 causes the display 111 to display the connectionstate indicating that the portable server 1 is being connected to theimage pickup apparatus 2. Then, the processing goes to a step S66. Auser may check that the portable server 1 is being connected theretowith reference to the connection state displayed on the display 111,manipulate the control button 112 and send video data to the portableserver 1, for example. Thus, at the step S66, the communication controlportion 81 of the image pickup apparatus 2 controls the datacommunicating portion 84 to perform data communication processing withthe portable server 1. Then, the connection and communication processingends here.

On the other hand, at the step S46, the communication control portion 81of the portable server 1 monitors the information receiving portion 92and judges whether the check signal corresponding to the connectionpermit signal has been received thereby through the antenna 35 or not.If the communication control portion 81 determines that the informationreceiving portion 92 has not received the check signal through theantenna 35, the processing returns to the step S45. Then, the step S45and subsequent steps are performed again. Since, the check signal issent from the image pickup apparatus 2 at the step S64, thecommunication control portion 81 of the portable server 1 determinesthat the information receiving portion 92 has received the check signalthrough the antenna 35 at the step S46. Then, at a step S47, anindicator in the output portion 38 is caused to display the connectionstate indicating that the image pickup apparatus 2 is being connected tothe portable server 1. Then, the processing goes to a step S48.

Since, at the step S66, the image pickup apparatus 2 performs datacommunication processing and sends data, the data communicating portion84 of the portable server 1 receives the data. At a step S48, inresponse to the data reception, the communication control portion 81 ofthe portable server 1 controls the data communicating portion 84 toperform data communication processing with the image pickup apparatus 2.Then, the connection and communication processing ends.

In this way, data communication is performed after mutual authenticationand after connection processing by a radio communicating portion isperformed to check connection. Therefore, no authentication processingis required by an authentication radio communicating portion having alimited receivable range of a shorter distance than that of the radiocommunicating portion. Thus, apparatus to be authenticated do not haveto be brought closely for every authentication, which allows thecommunication in a receivable range of a longer distance than that ofauthentication.

The effective period of mutual authentication (that is, a period inwhich the connection processing in FIG. 15 can be performed withoutmutual authentication again) is the most preferably semipermanent afterone authentication as described above in order to minimize thecomplexity in user's operations. However, the encryption incommunication is also fixed permanently for each apparatus. Therefore,for connection requiring high degree of security, apparatus may requestre-authentication for every connection or at predetermined intervals(such as every 24 hours). As a result, further security protection canbe attempted between apparatus to be connected.

While, in the description above, the portable server 1 sends call radio,the image pickup apparatus 2 may send call radio. Alternatively, both ofthe portable server 1 and the image pickup apparatus 2 may send callradio, and one having received the sent call radio earlier may sendresponse radio corresponding to the call radio.

Alternatively, in response to a user's operation on a control button,for example, the portable server 1 or the image pickup apparatus 2 maysend call radio. In this case, no call radio is transmitted unless auser commands the transmission. Thus, the power consumption can bereduced.

The above-described processing, is performed similarly between theportable server 1 and the portable viewer 3 or between the image pickupapparatus 2 and the portable viewer 3, the repetitive description ofwhich will be omitted here.

FIG. 16 shows another construction example of the radio communicationsystem in FIG. 1. In FIG. 16, a portable server 301-1 and portableserver 301-2 are connected to each other. An image pickup apparatus302-1 and portable viewers 303-1 and 303-2 are also connected to theportable server 301-1. Image pickup apparatus 302-2 and 302-3 andportable viewers 303-3 and 303-4 are connected to the portable server301-2. In other words, the radio communication system in FIG. 16includes a hub-oriented radio network with respect to the portableservers 301-1 and 301-2.

In following descriptions, the portable servers 301-1 and 301-2, theimage pickup apparatus 302-1 to 302-3 and the portable viewers 303-1 to303-4 are called portable servers 301, image pickup apparatus 302 andportable viewers 303, respectively, if they do not have to be dealtseparately.

Each of the portable servers 301 has basically the same construction asthat of the portable server 1 in FIG. 1, the repetitive detaildescription of which will be omitted here. The portable server 301 is aninformation processing apparatus, which is a portable and wireless homeserver centrally managing video data at user's home and has a mainstorage function for each of the image pickup apparatus 302 and theportable viewers 303. Each of the image pickup apparatus 302 hasbasically the same construction as that of the image pickup apparatus 2in FIG. 1, the repetitive detail description of which will be omittedhere. The image pickup apparatus 302 encodes images imaged by a user toMPEG2, for example, and sends the encoded image data to the portableserver 301. Each of the portable viewers 303 has basically the sameconstruction as that of the portable viewer 3 in FIG. 1, the repetitivedetail description of which will be omitted here. The portable viewer303 reconstruct video data stored in the portable server 301 anddisplays the reconstructed images on a display contained in the portableviewer 303. Notable, voice data is also omitted in the example in FIG.16.

In this radio communication system, like the radio communication systemin FIG. 1, each of the portable servers 301, image pickup apparatus 302and portable viewers 303 has two communicating portions including anauthentication radio communicating portion and a radio communicatingportion, an authentication antenna to be used by the authenticationradio communicating portion and an authentication button to be used by auser for causing each of the apparatus to perform authentication.

Therefore, when a user needs the portable server 301-1 and the portableserver 301-2 to authenticate each other, the user may press therespective authentication buttons of the portable server 301-1 andportable server 301-2 and bring the portable server 301-1 and theportable server 301-2 close to a range of a communicable distance of theauthentication antennas thereof. In response to a user's operation,authentication processing is performed by the authentication radiocommunicating portions in the portable server 301-1 and portable server301-2 in the same manner as that of the authentication processing havingdescribed with reference to FIG. 12. Then, the portable server 301-1 andthe portable server 301-2 can be mutually authenticate.

The authentication processing is also performed between the portableserver 301-1 and the image pickup apparatus 302-1 and between theportable viewers 303-1 and 303-2 so that the portable server 301-1, theimage pickup apparatus 302-1 and the portable viewers 303-1 and 303-2can be mutually authenticated. Therefore, the image pickup apparatus302-1 and the portable viewers 303-1 and 303-2 can subsequently performconnection and communication processing through the portable server301-1 and radio communicating portions in the same manner as that of theconnection and communication processing having described with referenceto FIG. 15.

In the same manner, the authentication processing is also performedamong the portable server 301-2, the image pickup apparatus 302-2 and302-3 and the portable viewers 303-3 and 303-4 so that the portableserver 301-2, the image pickup apparatus 302-2 and 302-3 and theportable viewers 303-3 and 303-4 can be mutually authenticated.Therefore, the image pickup apparatus 302-2 and 302-3 and the portableviewers 303-3 and 303-4 can subsequently perform connection andcommunication processing through the portable server 301-2 and radiocommunicating portions in the same manner as that of the connection andcommunication processing having described with reference to FIG. 15.

Therefore, in the radio communication system in FIG. 16, the imagepickup apparatus 302-1 and portable viewer 303-1 connecting to theportable server 301-1 are connected to communicate through the portableserver 301-1. In other words, the connection and communicationprocessing having described with reference to FIG. 15 is performedbetween the portable server 301-1 and the image pickup apparatus 302-1and is further performed between the portable server 301-1 and theportable viewer 303-1. Thus, data communication can be performed betweenthe image pickup apparatus 302-1 and the portable viewer 303-1 throughthe portable server 301-1. In this case, the data communication may beperformed in realtime or may be performed after buffered in a hard diskin the portable server 301-1. For the realtime connection, the portableserver 301-1 must have a function allowing the simultaneous connectionof two or more lines.

Furthermore, for example, the image pickup apparatus 302-1 connecting tothe portable server 301-1 and the portable viewer 303-3 connecting tothe portable server 301-2 are connected to communicate through theportable server 301-1 and portable server 301-2. In other words, theconnection and communication processing having described with referenceto FIG. 15 is performed between the portable server 301-1 and the imagepickup apparatus 302-1, between the portable server 301-2 and theportable viewer 303-3 and between the portable server 301-1 and theportable viewer 301-2. Thus, data communication can be performed betweenthe image pickup apparatus 302-1 and the portable viewer 303-3 throughthe portable server 301-1 and the portable server 301-2.

As described above, in the radio communication system in FIG. 16, datacommunication can be performed between the image pickup apparatus 302-1and the portable viewer 303-1 connecting to the portable server 301-1through the portable server 301-1 without authentication processingtherebetween. Furthermore, data communication can be performed betweenthe image pickup apparatus 302-1 connecting to the portable server 301-1and the portable viewer 303-3 connecting to the portable server 301-2through the portable server 301-1 and the portable server 301-2 withoutauthentication processing therebetween.

When many apparatus are connected to a radio communication system asdescribed above and the apparatus can be connected to each other, thenetworking and authentication processing and management becomesignificantly complicated as the number of connected apparatusincreases. Accordingly, the radio communication system may have a radionetwork construction having the portable server 301 as a hub so that anincrease in load relating to authentication on a user can be suppressedin that case.

While, in FIG. 16, the radio communication system includes ahub-oriented network, a radio communication system of the invention mayhave other kinds of network instead of the hub-oriented network. In thiscase, the apparatus can be advantageously freely connected to each otherthough authentication control becomes more complicated as describedabove as the number of apparatus connected thereto increases.

While, in the description above, portable servers, image pickupapparatus and portable viewers are used, the invention can be alsoapplied to a portable terminal such as a mobile telephone, a personalcomputer, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), a digital still camera anda head phone stereo in addition to a portable server, an image pickupapparatus and a portable viewer. Furthermore, the invention can be alsoapplied to other unportable servers (such as a home server).

The above-described series of processing can be performed by hardwareand can be also performed by software. In a case with software, each ofthe portable server 1 in FIG. 3, the image pickup apparatus 2 in FIG. 8and the portable viewer 3 in FIG. 11 may include an informationprocessing apparatus 401 as shown in FIG. 17.

In FIG. 17, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 411 executes different kindsof processing in accordance with a program stored in a ROM (Read-OnlyMemory) 412 or a program loaded from a storage portion 418 to a RAM(Random Access Memory) 413. The RAM 413 may further store data requiredby the CPU 411 for executing different kinds of processing.

The CPU 411, the ROM 412 and the RAM 413 are connected to each otherthrough a bus 414. An input/output interface 415 is also connected tothe bus 414.

An input portion 416 including a keyboard and/or a mouse, an outputportion 417 including a display such as a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) and anLCD (Liquid Crystal Display) and a speaker, the storage portion 418including a hard disk and a communicating portion 419 including a modemand a terminal adapter are connected to the input/output interface 415.The communicating portion 419 performs communication processing througha network, not shown.

A drive 420 is also connected to the input/output interface 415 asrequired. A magnetic disk 421, an optical disk 422, a magneto-opticaldisk 423 or a semiconductor memory 424 may be attached to the drive 420as required. Then, a computer program read therefrom is installed in thestorage portion 418 as required.

When the series of processing is performed by software, a programincluded in the software may be installed from a network or a recordingmedium to a computer built in a specific hardware or a generic personalcomputer, for example, which can implement different functions inaccordance with different programs therefor installed in the personalcomputer.

As shown in FIG. 17, the recording medium may include not only packagemedia including a magnetic disk 421 (including a flexible disk), anoptical disk 422 (including CD-ROM (Compact Disk-Read Only Memory) and aDVD (Digital Versatile Disk)), an magneto-optical disk 423 (including anMD (Mini-Disk) (trademark)) or a semiconductor memory 424, which storesa program and is to be distributed for providing the program to a userseparately from the apparatus body but also a ROM 412, which stores aprogram and is to be built in the apparatus body in advance and beprovided to a user as it is and a hard disk included in the storageportion 418.

In this specification, the steps shown in the flowcharts includeprocessing to be sequentially performed in written order and processingto be performed not sequentially but in parallel or separately.

In this specification, the term, “system”, refers to an entire equipmentincluding multiple apparatus.

1. A communication system for communicating data between a firstinformation processing apparatus and a second information processingapparatus, wherein the first information processing apparatus: judgeswhether authentication processing is performed for communication betweenthe first information processing apparatus and the second informationprocessing apparatus or not based on a user's operation, when it isdetermined that the authentication processing is performed and when thesecond information processing apparatus is arranged within a range of acommunicable distance of a first radio communicating portion in thefirst information processing apparatus, performs the authenticationprocessing by using the first radio communicating portion, registersauthentication data, which is obtained from the authenticationprocessing and is required for communication with the second informationprocessing apparatus, with the first information processing apparatus,and communicates data with the second information processing apparatusbased on the registered authentication data and by using a second radiocommunicating portion in the first information processing apparatus,which has a longer communicable distance than that of the first radiocommunicating portion; and the second information processing apparatus:when the first information processing apparatus is arranged within arange of a communicable distance of a third radio communicating portionin the second information processing apparatus, performs authenticationprocessing by using the third radio communicating portion, registersauthentication data, which is obtained from the authenticationprocessing and is required for communication with the first informationprocessing apparatus, with the second information processing apparatus,and communicates data with the first information processing apparatusbased on the registered authentication data and by using a fourth radiocommunicating portion in the second information processing apparatus,which has a longer communicable distance than that of the third radiocommunicating portion.
 2. A communication system according to claim 1,wherein the first information processing apparatus: includes operationinput means to be operated by a user for performing authenticationprocessing and judges whether authentication processing is performed ornot based on operation information input through the operation inputmeans.
 3. A communication system according to claim 1, wherein thesecond information processing apparatus also judges whetherauthentication processing is performed or not based on a user'soperation, and authentication processing is performed by using the thirdradio communicating portion when it is judged that the authenticationprocessing is performed and when the first information processingapparatus is arranged within a range of a communicable distance of thethird radio communicating portion.
 4. An information processingapparatus comprising: authentication judging means judging whetherauthentication processing is performed for communication with anotherinformation processing apparatus or not based on a user's operation; afirst radio communicating portion communicating data with the otherinformation processing apparatus; a second radio communicating portionhaving a longer communicable distance than that of the first radiocommunicating portion and communicating data with the other informationprocessing apparatus; authentication performing means performingauthentication processing by using the first radio communicating portionwhen the authentication judging means determines performingauthentication processing and when the other information processingapparatus is arranged within the range of the communicable distance ofthe first radio communicating portion; registering means registeringauthentication data, which is obtained as a result of authentication bythe authentication performing means and is required for communicationwith the other information processing apparatus; and data communicatingmeans communicating data with the other information processing apparatusbased on the authentication data registered by the registering means andby using the second radio communicating portion having a longercommunicable distance than that of the first radio communicatingportion.
 5. An information processing apparatus according to claim 4,further comprising: operation input means to be operated by a user forperforming authentication processing, wherein the authentication judgingmeans judges whether authentication processing by the authenticationperforming means is performed or not based on operation informationinput through the operation input means.
 6. An information processingapparatus according to claim 4, further comprising: informationtransmitting means transmitting call information by using the secondradio communicating portion, the call information being used forchecking an apparatus existing within the range of the communicabledistance of the second radio communicating portion; informationreceiving means receiving response information from the otherinformation processing apparatus by using the second radio communicatingportion, the other information processing apparatus having received thecall information through the information transmitting means; andauthenticated apparatus judging means judging whether the otherinformation processing apparatus is an authenticated apparatus or notbased on the response information having been received by theinformation receiving means and the authentication data having beenregistered by the registering means, wherein the data communicationmeans communicates data with the other information processing apparatusby using the second radio communicating portion when the authenticatedapparatus judging means judges that the other information processingapparatus is an authenticated apparatus.
 7. An information processingapparatus according to claim 4, further comprising: informationreceiving means receiving call information from the other informationprocessing apparatus by using the second radio communicating portion,the call information being used for checking an apparatus existingwithin the range of the communicable distance of the other informationprocessing apparatus; information transmitting means transmittingresponse information to the call information, which has been received bythe information receiving means, by using the second radio communicatingportion based on the authentication data registered by the registeringmeans; and connection permit judging means judging whether a connectionpermit signal for response information transmitted by the informationtransmitting means has been received from the other informationprocessing apparatus or not, wherein the data communication meanscommunicates data with the other information processing apparatus byusing the second radio communicating portion when the connection permitjudging means judges that a connection permit signal has received fromthe other information processing apparatus.
 8. An information processingmethod for a communication system communicating data between aninformation processing apparatus and another information processingapparatus, the method comprising: an authentication judging step ofjudging whether authentication processing is performed for communicationbetween the information processing apparatus and the other informationprocessing apparatus or not based on a user's operation; anauthentication performing step of performing authentication processingby using a first radio communicating portion in the informationprocessing apparatus when the authentication judging step determinesperforming authentication processing and when the other informationprocessing apparatus is arranged within the range of the communicabledistance of the first radio communicating portion; a registering step ofregistering authentication data, which is obtained as a result ofauthentication by the authentication performing step and is required forcommunication with the other information processing apparatus; and adata communicating step of communicating data with the other informationprocessing apparatus based on the authentication data registered by theregistering step and by using a second radio communicating portion beingin the information processing apparatus and having a longer communicabledistance than that of the first radio communicating portion.
 9. Arecording medium recording a program causing a computer to performinformation processing in a communication system communicating databetween an information processing apparatus and another informationprocessing apparatus, the information processing comprising: anauthentication judging step of judging whether authentication processingis performed for communication between the information processingapparatus and the other information processing apparatus or not based ona user's operation; an authentication performing step of performingauthentication processing by using a first radio communicating portionin the information processing apparatus when the authentication judgingstep determines performing authentication processing and when the otherinformation processing apparatus is arranged within the range of thecommunicable distance of the first radio communicating portion; aregistering step of registering authentication data, which is obtainedas a result of authentication by the authentication performing step andis required for communication with the other information processingapparatus; and a data communicating step of communicating data with theother information processing apparatus based on the authentication dataregistered by the registering step and by using a second radiocommunicating portion being in the information processing apparatus andhaving a longer communicable distance than that of the first radiocommunicating portion.
 10. A program causing a computer to performinformation processing in a communication system communicating databetween an information processing apparatus and another informationprocessing apparatus, the information processing comprising: anauthentication judging step of judging whether authentication processingis performed for communication between the information processingapparatus and the other information processing apparatus or not based ona user's operation; an authentication performing step of performingauthentication processing by using a first radio communicating portionin the information processing apparatus when the authentication judgingstep determines performing authentication processing and when the otherinformation processing apparatus is arranged within the range of thecommunicable distance of the first radio communicating portion; aregistering step of registering authentication data, which is obtainedas a result of authentication by the authentication performing step andis required for communication with the other information processingapparatus; and a data communicating step of communicating data with theother information processing apparatus based on the authentication dataregistered by the registering step and by using a second radiocommunicating portion being in the information processing apparatus andhaving a longer communicable distance than that of the first radiocommunicating portion.